My husband is from a dairy farm and recently attended training on farm effluent system construction. I've been chewing his ear about the declining standard of our rivers and streams for some time but hearing about it from a different source sometimes makes the difference.
The training opened his eyes to what's happening on dairy farms and how different regional councils have different standards for effluent management. We're moving to Taranaki and love the region - both our mothers are from there and we were married there. Unfortunately, there are some questions about the standard of effluent management with nearly 1000 dairy farms, more than 50 per cent, discharging treated effluent to waterways, rather than land. While the majority are meeting their consent conditions, there is still a decline in waterway health the further downstream you go, including the stunning Oakura Stream where we had our wedding photos taken.
My husband's parents have recently spent a lot of money on improving the effluent system on their family farm in the Waikato for treatment to land. But it isn't the same in Taranaki. So while they are being environmentally responsible, others are not and that's not a level playing field. In the Waikato, about 90 per cent of dairy farms discharge treated waste to land while in the Manawatu-Wanganui region, 100 per cent of dairy farms discharge to land.
As a local farmer said in this week's Chronicle when reacting to the High Court judgment on the Horizons Regional Council One Plan, we need to grow up as a country. As we intensify our land use, there are consequences - one of these being nitrogen run-off, from effluent and fertiliser. Nitrogen helps plants grow so helps profits but, uncontained, it also causes waterways to go downhill through algae growth and less oxygen in the water, impacting on the living things that call streams homes. I won't go into E. coli, except to advise that checking river health reports in summer before swimming with your children is a wise move these days, especially at the beautiful Oakura Stream.
So there is a price to pay if we want to achieve sustainable economic benefits from intensifying farming, which is a mix of the carrot (incentives) and the stick (regulations). I'm pleased the One Plan puts limits on nitrogen as it's done to benefit us all and, unfortunately, relying on all farmers thinking long term when making economic and environmental decisions is unrealistic.
This is just one strand in the debate about a supposed tension between the environment and the economy. There's a view that the environment gets in the way of growth, but I disagree. There is true interdependency between environment and economy, just like the fable of the goose that laid the golden egg. A healthy environment, fresh water in particular, is fundamental to NZ's major industries. We must ensure developments are balanced against real environmental limits - there is no Planet B to turn to.
